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What was announced for Donbas before 22 September 2022?
Summary
A look back at the referendum announcements made in self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk in the days before the votes were due to begin.
What had been set in motion in occupied parts of eastern Ukraine by 22 September 2022? Two announcements, made within days of each other, put referendums on joining Russia on the calendar.
On 19 September 2022, the so-called public chambers of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic" appealed to their leaders to hold a referendum on accession to Russia "immediately".
On 20 September 2022, the "People's Council" of the self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic" scheduled a referendum on the republic joining Russia as a constituent entity of the federation. It was set for 23–27 September. Soon afterwards, the "People's Council" of the "Donetsk People's Republic" announced that its own referendum on joining the Russian Federation would take place on the same dates.
By 22 September 2022, then, the timetable was fixed: voting in both self-proclaimed entities was due to begin the following day and run for five days. The sequence was brisk, moving from the appeals of the public chambers to formal scheduling by the councils in about a day.
